Argentine born Paz Lenchantin (from Armenian/French parents, both pianists) as a groovy electric bass player had joined A Perfect Circle, Zwan (with Matt Sweeney and Billy Corgan -from Smashing Pumpkins-) and then the bluespsychrockers The Entrance Band, and had some commissions on bass or violin or arrangements (Queens Of The Stone Age, the Japanese film ‘Hen’, Michael Mann’s Miami Vice).

A few years ago she recorded a solo release which is more acoustic and which features songs and instrumental ideas of string arrangements and vocal harmonies with guitar pickings. The package is officially printed, but the cds seems to be cdr copies sold privately or on occasions.

The mini album is dedicated to her elder brother Luciano who is a singer-songwriter for the band Big Milk. It very much sounds like a present of love with instrumental miniatures and songs which sound most often like lullabies, in a classical minimal/minimalistic way of folk, or a bit folk-Americana, presented like gifts, feather light ideas like feathers of wishes, carried by a slight breeze of strings.

Just the first violin on “Montana Train” sounds a bit like a straw violin. This track is a humming minimal dance of a melody. “Kentucky Hymn” is arranged with fingerpicking beautiful violin compact harmony-melodic strings (Penguin Cafe Orchestra-like), and ethereal vocal harmonies, is a vague miniature like only a memory of a song. “Violins” is another small filmic violin arrangement. The first more real song “365” sounds like an Americana lullaby, accompanied by a smaller sized strummed guitar and with a small vocal arrangement. “California” is another small minimalist mood-provoking lullaby arranged by violins/fiddle with guitar pickings. “Bloom Like Roses” arranged with string arrangements and country folk guitar, sounds a bit more like a country lullaby. Last track with country violin and with bit of percussion improvises pompompom her love & caring lullabies to its destiny to be given as a present…

PS. Also Paz sister, Ana, has a musical career, as a cello player, and she joined similar bands.

Paz Lenchantin, now with The Entrance band (while she also played in A Perfect Circle and with Zwan,..) once made this beautiful mini-album (of nearly 19 minutes) back in 2006. Back then I have reviewed the cdr album recognising its qualities, and luckily, Entrance Band did so as well because they decided to have it released on LP (in a limited run of 1000). There’s a strange Mountain deserted folk flavour coming through rather acid folkish songs with interesting more often rather singing-minimalist layers of violin. Time to give it a second thought.

The first short intro, “Mountain Train” sounds as if from learning to play some Baroque composition but then this is almost instantly turned into a guitar led piece with texturing murmering voice and minimalist violin. “Kentucky Hymn” is the most special track, with an intro arrangement that sounds like an melancholic orchestration from the Penguin Cafe Orchestra with lead rhythm pickings. Added to this are more wordless vocal layers swinging with the violins and finally a high note song. The ultra-short instrumental outro followed hereafter is arranged by different violin overdubs continuing the magic in multiple melancholic layers. “Three Six Five” is a charming and simple sing-a-long happy-bluesy gospel-folk song with banjo-like playing on guitar, which has an Appalachian flavour. Back to violin swings on guitar picking leads we hear on “California”. The two violin improvisations swing a bit on the guitar rhythm and sounds like falling leaves, swinging up and down in the wind a bit. Simple but effective, but perhaps slightly a bit too often repeated (but without really disturbing). “Bloom Like Rune” is another slightly singing along song, and also here the arrangements are more comparable to Penguin Cafe Orchestra mixed with the rather traditional mountain-folk melody. The outro is an improvisation of violin with percussion played as if performed by a small marching band departing the scene, a more Americana goodbye.